In February 2005, I was a teaching artist-in-residence with Maureen Maher’s 7th and 8th graders at Dr. Earl Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls, Rhode Island as part of the Arts Talk at Channel One program. Students were tasked to create puppet shows based on story tellers from variety of cultures using recycled materials and perform them for first grade reading buddies

The residency, made possible through funding from the Arts in Education program through the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, included storytelling workshops with Abigail Jefferson and puppetry and mask work which I led.

Topics I covered included

Overview in styles of puppetry

Puppetry around the globe and throughout history

Puppetry in contemporary pop culture

Keeping a dream journal as source material for stories

Principals for adapting stories

Story structure

Script writing

Construction workshops

Rehearsals

At the culmination of the residency, middle school students performed their puppet shows for first graders.